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Fayetteville may sell parcel to funeral home for public parking lot

Funeral home would also use it for parking

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

To save a historic building in downtown Fayetteville, the City Council may consider selling a small chunk of land in the heart of downtown which would become a public parking lot.

Doing so will require council to sell the tract, appraised at $80,000, to the city’s Downtown Development Authority, which can then sell the property to Mowell Funeral Home, which is currently occupying the building.

City Manager Joe Morton said the DDA can sell the .83-acre tract to the funeral home. The city could not sell the property directly to the funeral home without putting the property up for bid, Morton said.

The current proposal is for Mowell to buy the property for $40,000, which is the appraised value after the perpetual parking lot easement was added, Morton said Wednesday. Also, Mowell will set aside $50,000 in an escrow account to go towards relocation of the house should the DDA find a new owner for it.

If the DDA fails to find a relocation site and owner, the escrowed money will be rebated to Mowell, according to a memo from Morton. The deal has not yet been approved by council, Morton cautioned.

The funeral home is planning to build a larger facility at its current location off Jeff Davis Drive near East Lanier Avenue, and funeral home owner C.J. Mowell says the home’s current location is necessary for parking space for the new structure.

Thus, the city’s plan to give the funeral home parking space that will forever remain a parking lot available to the public at large.

The .83-acre tract the city is considering selling to Mowell is next to the funeral home tract. It also borders the city’s park on Church Street and the nearby city water tower, Morton said.

Officials said the extra parking lot could also serve patrons of the city’s Train Depot, which is leased out for special events.

Under the proposed deal, the funeral home would develop the parcel as a parking lot and execute a perpetual easement so it could be used by the public without restrictions, the memo said.

The property’s appraised value was cut in half with the perpetual easement attached since it means the funeral home can never build on the tract, Morton added.

Mowell has said that creating additional parking was an important part of the expansion plan. Large funerals often lead to some people parking on the street because of the lack of parking at the current facility, Mowell said.